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Act Locally » January 28, 2014

Yelp, for Fair Dining

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Improving workers’ rights in the restaurant industry? Now there’s an app for that. The non-profit Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC) has released a free mobile app that enables you to search for restaurants “where you can eat knowing that your server can afford to pay their rent and your cook does not have to work while sick.”

The ROC National Diners’ Guide app rates restaurants according to whether they meet labor standards such as paying workers a living wage and providing paid sick days and opportunities for advancement. Restaurants that rate highly according to these criteria receive a gold star. The app currently includes information on popular restaurants in nine major cities, including Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C. If restaurants in your city score poorly, you can also use the app to tweet at them and call for improved working conditions.

ROC organizes workers in the restaurant industry for improved pay and working conditions. It has won 13 major campaigns against exploitation in high-profile restaurant companies, securing a total of $7 million in financial settlements over issues like stolen wages and tips, as well as discrimination and sexual harassment on the job. The mobile app is the organization’s latest effort to unite restaurantgoersand restaurant workers to ensure that justice is on the menu. To download the app, visit rocunited.org/dinersguide.